My son, Fusu, please abdicate the first emperor!

Chapter 873 Can't Keep Up

In the city of Xianyang, in a women's workshop, hundreds of female workers were sitting in the room, four people gathered in a group, sewing clothes in a hurry.

At the entrance, there were some people who had just joined the workshop. There was not enough space inside the workshop, so they had to move out and cut and sew clothes under the corridor in the courtyard.

In the warehouse, the fine cloths were piled in boxes and hung on wooden racks to dry.

The windows on all four sides are always open to prevent the cloth from getting damp and moldy.

Inside the workshop, the female workers were making clothes for the soldiers in an orderly manner. Their fingers moved flexibly between the cloth and the needles and threads, like fluttering butterflies, clever and diligent.

The women were very happy and had smiles on their faces.

They were the first group of people to enjoy the benefits of the times since the founding of the Qin Empire.

The women of Qin State have always been hardworking and dexterous.

They were busy in the courtyard, but unfortunately they were too slow compared to the machines.

At this rate, these women will not be able to complete the production of military uniforms before the end of the year.

The leader in charge of this matter had his hair on his forehead scratched off, and he immediately reported the matter to Meng Tian.

Meng Tian was looking at a map in the general's mansion.

The reason he looked at the map was not because there was any enemy situation, but because there had been no major events in recent days and Meng Tian was a little bored.

He was looking at a map, reminiscing about his past combat career.

In the past, every detail of every battle was an insignificant matter in Meng Tian's eyes. Now that he has withdrawn from the battlefield, Meng Tian feels that even the small matter of running out of food on the march is worth recalling.

The general was reminiscing about the time when he had fought wars when suddenly his subordinates came to report this.

Meng Tian was confused.

He never expected that he would encounter such a problem in his lifetime.

There was too much cloth and the women workers couldn't keep up with making the clothes.

It is really unbelievable that such a thing would happen in the Qin Empire.

A year ago, a riot broke out in a certain place in the western part of Qin State due to a shortage of clothing.

At this time, Meng Tian felt that he could not keep up with the emperor. You know, Meng Tian was a person who particularly admired Qin II. He felt that his life should follow the heroic master to do something.

Qin II was exactly such a person.

To this end, he has been trying hard to keep up with the thinking of Qin II.

The result was still a step slower.

As a great general, he never imagined that the emperor would one day let him manage a group of women making cloth.

Meng Tian was happy to manage military equipment and weapons manufacturing, and he was capable of doing it.

However, making cloth and clothing and mass-producing previously scarce material resources as military equipment was something Meng Tian had never imagined.

"There are already a hundred people. Is that not enough?"

"It will probably take more than a thousand people. And the new cloth will arrive soon, and the old cloth is not even one-tenth finished. There is no room in the warehouse to store it."

Meng Tian's face darkened. "How can it be so exaggerated?"

"I dare not speak falsely."

In any case, everyone was skeptical at the beginning, but when Fusu really completed some incredible project, they rushed to please the emperor.

Meng Tian put away the map and said, "At this rate, it won't be a problem to prepare a set of clothes for 400,000 people."

"This, I don't know."

Meng Tian went to the workshop in person and saw the clothes being made and the women busy working. At that moment, he seemed to see the wave of the new era rushing towards him.

"This is the trend of the times and it is irreversible."

Meng Tian drove to the Xianyang Palace in person and would consult the emperor about the matter of recruiting more female workers.

Only the emperor has the power to mobilize human resources.

The ancient emperor was not only the chairman of the empire, but also the biggest human resources manager.

Only Qin II himself has the final say on the mobilization of manpower.

In the Xianyang Palace, Qin II was discussing this year's harvest with Zhang Cang.

A good harvest, that is for sure.

The result satisfied Qin II, Zhang Cang, all the grain farmers with small amounts of land, and the large landlords with large amounts of land.

However, some unexpected situations occurred.

Many people always think that those rich and powerful people are bad guys, but in fact they really earned their money legally; many people also think that the poor are always pitiful and are squeezed to the point where only skin and bones are left.

But in the eyes of officials, this is not the case, and the pity of the poor is just an illusion.

"People outside Handan City, some heard that Your Majesty was going to build a factory, so they sold their land and used the money to do business. Land is the foundation of a family's business. Some farmers are unwilling to be farmers, unwilling to till the land and grow their own food. They want to get rich overnight, so they buy and sell land privately."

"When I met a businessman with ulterior motives, I not only lost the land I depended on for my livelihood, but was also burdened with new debts. I had no choice but to hide from place to place for a living."

"There are many farmers who, when a boy is born, send him out to work for others to earn money when he is only seven or eight years old. When a girl is born, she is sold directly to make money. Some even trade their wives."

"This is because they are unwilling to work. Even if they have land, they are unwilling to cultivate it properly and just want to take advantage of it."

"Their ideas are simply astonishing."

"They want to exchange a little bit of effort for a huge reward. They want to get rich overnight, they want to become famous overnight."

"Many people don't know their own worth and blindly seek out fortune tellers, saying they will go out to do big business, but in the end they sell themselves to work as long-term laborers in dark caves in Guangdong, Guangxi and border areas."

“These things have been happening more and more frequently lately.”

"Your Majesty, you must not be lenient when dealing with these scumbags."

After listening to this, Qin II’s good mood for the whole day was gone.

"So what do you think we should do?"

"Your Majesty, giving these people land will not solve these problems. For these people, they would rather Your Majesty feed them food and put money in their pockets."

"What they fear most is labor, what they fear most is dedication, and what they fear most is hard work."

"I think that for these people, we should legislate to cancel their eligibility to own land, and then let them build the imperial mausoleum."

After Qin Shihuang died, building the imperial mausoleum was no longer an honorable thing, but instead became something that everyone was ashamed to talk about.

Building imperial tombs has become a derogatory term.

Qin II frowned. The white jade ring on his hand had been taken off long ago, and he pressed it in the palm of his hand.

"Anyone who buys and sells children will be sentenced to death and skinned alive on the spot. The government will provide regular food for the children, and the children will be nursed by wet nurses assigned by the government. When they reach adulthood, they will be registered as residents."

The Qin State had many ways to encourage childbirth. Among them, every government office had a wet nurse. When someone in a place gave birth to a child and the number of children was too large to be breastfed, the government would send a wet nurse to help breastfeed, thus reducing the burden and hard work of breastfeeding for women.

Zhang Cang's eyes almost popped out when he heard this.

"From today on, parents who buy and sell their children will be punished the same as human traffickers. Parents who use their children as tools have already stopped wanting to be human. Since they no longer want to be human, I will send them on their way."

In the past, human traffickers were sentenced to death, but it was the first time that Qin II used such a harsh criminal law to punish parents who sold their children.

This is tantamount to hanging a sword over the heads of all parents in the world.

Qin II was not a loyal or filial person.

What is this, that raising children is a great favor, and that it is a great sin if children do not repay the favor? That is all dross invented by the previous generation out of guilt, bullshit, to imprison and oppress the next generation.

"There are also parents who let their children work while they enjoy themselves at home. If it is not because of health reasons, but just because they want to be lazy, once discovered and reported, the parents' land ownership rights will be removed and the land will be inherited by the children."

"As for those who always think about getting rich overnight and want to go outside the Great Wall to seek a better life, I can only say that China is a place where you can come and go freely."

"You came back the same way you went there. From today on, the government will no longer manage you."

"However, if anyone secretly operates coal mines or iron mines in the country and illegally recruits workers, once discovered, the entire family will be punished."

"I don't mind sending troops to destroy those small countries that don't take China seriously and always make small moves."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Qin II handled the matter decisively.

He felt that it would be better to eliminate those who were not human as soon as possible to avoid causing harm for thousands of years.

If I don’t go to hell, who will?

He'll be the bad guy.

Qin II hated those hypocritical people who pretended to be kind and whined all day long.

Chen Ping and several minor clerks were recording quickly on the side.

Zhang Cang's blood boiled when he heard that.

"Your Majesty, please let me go to the border. I can educate those stupid barbarians and Chinese people together. These kids deserve a beating."

"I also heard that those young men who always wanted to travel the world on horseback and with swords, to seek huge wealth outside the Great Wall and return home in glory, always used the name of Captain Ji Bu's younger brother."

"When the border guards heard those young men claiming to be Ji Bu, they would just let them pass."

"Your Majesty, if I go, I will make sure these little bastards know how powerful the imperial court is."

Qin II narrowed his eyes and looked at Zhang Cang. "What official position do I give you?"

"The Grand Minister of Agriculture."

"What does the Minister of Agriculture manage?"

"Agriculture!" Zhang Cang knew what the emperor was going to say. "But your majesty, these disobedient boys are also under my management. If they had just farmed, the situation would not be like this."

"If I leave these people who don't like farming alone and encourage them to venture out into the world, then those who farm at home all day will feel unfair and dissatisfied."

"This is equivalent to bullying the honest people, forcing them to work to support those who are idle."

"Your Majesty, the most taboo thing in governing a country is unfairness."

"Such remarks that are only about taking risks and getting rich quickly are a great threat to the country. We must stop these rumors as soon as possible."

Everyone stared at Zhang Cang in a daze.

Zhang Cang suddenly became very righteous.

To be honest, when he was not against Qin II, everyone liked him very much.

"Yes." The emperor agreed.

Meng Tian had been waiting on the side for a long time. When he heard Zhang Cang talking about the people's situation, he admired him very much.

This is the most actual situation in the country, but the officials in the past were all very bad.

There are mainly two groups of people among them.

They spread rumors that the people were all pitiful, and never mentioned the bad things about the people. They hypocritically said they would provide protection, relief, and various subsidies to the people, but in the end, they just pocketed the taxpayers' money that the government had collected.

Or they think that the people are all bad, and if the state does not suppress and contain the people, it will be difficult for the state to control the people. What the state needs to do is to prevent the people from starving to death or becoming rich, and they want the people to listen to the empire obediently.

This group of people is naturally represented mainly by the Legalist Qin officials.

But can you say that the existence of these people is a mistake? Without these people, would the country decline and fall apart faster?

When Zhang Cang left, Meng Tian bowed to him respectfully.

"The Minister of Agriculture is truly devoted to the country. Meng Tian admires him."

Zhang Cang paused for a moment. He was really moved to be recognized by Meng Tian.

Zhang Cang's eyes were slightly red.

"It's just the duty of a subject." Zhang Cang walked away excitedly, swinging his wide sleeves.

Meng Tian watched Zhang Cang leave happily, and felt a little lost.

To be honest, after the empire's transformation, many people didn't know what to do.

Only Zhang Cang remained firm. He knew what he wanted to do and had his own direction.

Although Xiang Li Che's political level is very low, he can lead the times forward and develop science and technology, which means he is leading an era to gallop and evolve towards a higher dimension.

On the contrary, it is these high and mighty nobles who don’t know where to go at the transition between the new era and the old era.

The Eco-Tech City was not created overnight. All the technological inventions were invented through hard work over the past decade or so, but no one had ever applied them to construction or to building a city.

As soon as the emperor created this science and technology city, everyone started to panic.

Because the emperor proved him right.

However, the nobles and ministers who opposed him did not know how to face their failure.

"Why is the general unhappy?"

Meng Tian told the emperor the actual situation he had encountered.

"What's so difficult about this? I will immediately issue an edict to recruit thousands of female workers for you. The last thing Xianyang City lacks is people."

"Your Majesty, my question is, should we recruit male workers or female workers? Women are all working outside, so what about men? Nowadays, most men in the world are unemployed at home, but your Majesty has opened a textile factory and recruited far more female workers than male workers."

"Recently, there have been rumors in Xianyang that having a son is useless now, and only having a daughter can support the family."

"Men are active and women are quiet. Men are responsible for the outside world and women are responsible for the inside world. This is the way to achieve a balance between yin and yang and a harmonious family. Nowadays, women go out to work, but most men stay at home to take care of children and do housework."

"And some women, realizing they can support themselves by working, are no longer willing to get married."

The question raised by Meng Tian is a historical truth that rulers in the past were most reluctant to mention - that is, in agricultural society, depending on the average time span and the rise and fall of dynasties in history, almost half of the men in society cannot get married.

In prosperous times, 60% of men have wives, while in troubled times, 20% of men have wives.

This is a very scary data.

Some difficulties are never unique to this era, but have existed since ancient times and have continued for thousands of years.

(End of this chapter)